Rocky Mountain Cowboy (38 page)

“Tell me about it.”

“I’ll go with you, to keep you company,” she offered.

“No, there’s no point in both of us being uncomfortable.” He hooked an arm around her neck and pulled her to him to nuzzle her ear and whisper into it. “Enjoy your bed. Dream about me.”

Jenny was so unsettled, she didn’t know what to say. Hawk didn’t seem a bit bothered by the fact that Eli was standing in the doorway, looking at them both naked under the covers. Of course, he had to know
that they were sleeping together. They’d been intimate for weeks now, but no one had ever walked in on them before. Thank God, they’d only been talking. She’d have to be more careful about closing and locking the door.

She snuck a peek at the old cowboy, wondering what in God’s name she would have done if it had been her father walking in on them. Well, they wouldn’t have been sharing a bed under the same roof, that’s what. Then again, her father might be able to see them if he was watching over them from heaven. Well! What an observation that was!

Sure she was blushing from the roots of her already dark red hair to the tips of her bare feet, she grabbed the blanket off the bed, wrapped it around herself, and hurried into the bathroom where her bathrobe hung on the back of the door.

From the half-closed door, she heard Eli say to Hawk: “You might think ‘bout putting a ring on her finger.”

Jenny groaned and felt like sinking into the linoleum. Instead she peeked through the small opening of the door, into the bedroom. Hawk had risen and was yanking on his jeans, grinning broadly. “I’m thinking ‘bout doing just that, you nosey old coot.”

“‘Bout time,” Eli mumbled as he left the room.

Thinking Hawk must surely be feeling pressured, even cornered, after her announcement, then Eli’s advice, Jenny crept back into the bedroom. “Don’t forget we have an appointment with Jack Higgins this morning at eleven o’clock,” she reminded, wishing now she’d told him about her financial intervention instead of her feelings for him.

“I’ll have to run into town to get a new lock in the morning, then go back to the hangar and put it on. Guess that means I’ll meet you at Jack’s office. I’ll take some fresh clothes with me. We can grab something to eat afterwards, maybe at that restaurant below Jack’s office.”

“Yeah, maybe.” If he was still speaking to her. “Take a pillow and blanket with you. Stay warm.” She stared up at him, wishing he didn’t have to leave again.

He gazed back at her like he understood. “Jenny.” His voice held a note of seriousness. Then he stepped up to her and caressed her cheek. “We’re going to get back to what you told me. I’ll be thinking about it tonight.”

“Okay.”

He bent to kiss her then, and it was the sweetest, most tender kiss
he’d ever given her.

Exposing her feelings the way she had, without any real response from him, left her raw and uncertain
. What if he thought about it and decided he didn’t love her back? Damn, now she wished she’d never told him that she was in love with him! But she’d thought that if he knew how much she cared for him, he might accept her financial help. She’d been so hopeful earlier in the evening. Now she wondered if she’d just made a mess of everything.

∞∞∞

“You look especially pretty this morning!”

Hawk greeted Jenny on the sidewalk outside Jack Higgins’ office. He gave her a long slow look from her soft leather high-heeled dress boots to her calf-length dark blue denim skirt that buttoned down the front. “I really like that blouse.”

It was a
fitted white cotton eyelet blouse with a high pearl-buttoned collar and full sleeves that narrowed at the elbow then buttoned to her wrist, where they formed a lace-edged vee over the back of her hand. It was very romantic and Victorian, a treasure she had found shopping with Becky. Around her waist, she wore one of her own wide, leather, elaborately tooled belts. She knew it emphasized her small waist and set off the outfit perfectly.

She was still uneasy about her revelation last night because
Hawk hadn’t gotten a chance to respond to her yet. She felt as insecure and vulnerable as she had last night. And today, she was going to need all the confidence she could muster, for she had no doubt the cowboy beside her was soon going to hear about her financial intervention. Hopefully, though, not until
after
they signed their partnership agreement. It helped he thought she looked especially pretty today for she was going to need all the help she could get.

“Becky and I went shopping and out to lunch this week. We ate here, in fact.” She nodded in the direction of the downstairs restaurant.

“Is it any good?”

“It’s not bad, but maybe we could go someplace different today.” She especially
wanted to avoid running into Brad Caldwell today of all days.

“Sure, maybe somewhere cozy and quiet where we can continue last night’s conversation.”

As she gave him a slow appraisal, she hoped he would
want
to talk to her after their meeting upstairs. He was still wearing his light blue jeans, though they were none the worse for sleeping in them. Since then, he’d also put on a white, western styled shirt, a brown corduroy sport coat, with suede elbow patches, and a dark brown felt Stetson that looked as if he saved it for dress. He may have spent the night in his plane, but he didn’t look like it.

“You look nice, too,” she complimented him. “I guess we dressed for the occasion, huh?”

His blue eyes sparkled with teasing amusement. “And what occasion is that, Miss Fletcher?”

She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “The one Jack was beginning to think he’d have to hog-tie and drag you to,” she admonished. “Making our partnership real and legal.”

“Ahh....” He hooked an arm around her waist and steered her towards the hotel’s entrance. “Shall we?”

“Where did you park?” she asked as they entered the lobby and headed for the stairway.

“Next to that flashy ‘Vette of yours, in the parking lot out back.”

“Was your plane okay? Did you have any more trouble last night?” She went up the stairs before him, feeling his eyes on her. A quick glance over her shoulder told her his gaze w
as indeed riveted on her backside.

“Yeah, luckily my plane was fine. I got a stronger lock.” He lifted his gaze long enough to give her a slow grin.

“That’s good, but maybe we won’t have any more trouble.” Even she couldn’t afford them if they went on too much longer.

“We can only cross our fingers.”

On the second floor, they were approaching Jack Higgins’ office when two men dressed in black suits passed them in the hallway. The younger of the two men was huge. The other man was in his fifties and of slighter build. They were the same two men Jenny had seen with Brad outside the Cattlemen’s meeting weeks ago. They walked to his office, which was four doors down from Jack’s, stopped, and turned to stare at Hawk and her. She looked back at them, as did Hawk. He put a hand on her shoulder. She shivered. Both men were giving them a penetrating, speculative assessment. But the younger man’s look held something else; something lecherous and personally menacing, directed solely at her. Hawk’s hand tightened on her shoulder. She broke her visual contact with the men, and opened the door to Jack’s office. Hawk followed her inside, slowly. She took a deep calming breath when he closed the door behind him.

“You okay?” he asked her. “You’re a little pale.”

She felt strangely shaken. “It’s those men in the hallway. They’re the same ones I saw talking to Brad after the Cattlemen’s meeting. They gave me the creeps then, too.”

“Yeah,” he responded thoughtfully. “I think those are the ones Cindy was talking about; the guys Brad is involved with on
this land development deal. Moneymen, financial backers. They look like bad dudes— shady as hell.”

“Brad’s a fool.”

“A dangerous fool.”

A woman came through the inner office door and smiled at them. “Hello Hawk.”

“Hi, Vicky. Have you met Tom’s daughter, Jennifer?”

“No, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about her.” The middle aged woman smiled again and extended her hand. “I’m Jack’s wife, secretary, legal assistant, and general all-round gofer.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Higgins,” Jenny said, shaking her hand firmly, which was the way she preferred shaking anyone’s hand. It was a masculine practice, but also a good business one; sure, firm, and certain— which at the moment, she felt anything but.

“Go right in,” the woman stated, standing aside and ushering them both in. “Jack is waiting with the papers and the champagne.”

“I guess you
are
happy to get these papers signed,” Hawk told the attorney as he stepped into his office and shook the man’s outstretched hand, surveying the set of four champagne glasses and the bottle chilling in a bucket of ice. “Champagne and all. A celebration, huh?”

Jack Higgins beamed. “You bet! After two months, I’m relieved to get this completed. You two are making a good decision. Tom would have been really happy.”
He motioned to two big leather chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat.” The attorney went around his desk and took his seat, pushing the set of papers across the top. “Here are the documents.” He then laid out two pens, one for each of them.

Hawk took off his hat, raked his fingers through the black strands to restore order, then set it on a corner of the desk, and leaned forward to look over the documents. Jenny sat on the edge of her chair, watching him flip pages. The clock on the wall ticked loudly and slowly. She felt each and every beat. Just hurry and sign them, she screamed silently. While Hawk read, she stared at the cut crystal glasses and the way the sun filtered through them from the window behind the attorney. Prisms of colored light danced over her white blouse and the papers Hawk fingered through.

“Everything looks in order, Jack,” he finally said, then turned to Jenny. “You want to look these over? It’s exactly the same arrangement Tom and I had.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve seen Dad’s agreement with you. If this is the same, it’s fine.” She expectantly watched him pick up the pen while Jack pointed to where they both should sign.

Hawk handed her a pen. “You sure about this?”

“Absolutely.” She nearly shouted. “Let’s do it.”

“You first.”

Exasperated with what seemed like delays to her, she grabbed the pen and quickly signed her full name, then pushed the paper back to Hawk. His hand was poised over the place he needed to sign his name when Jack Higgins spoke.

“I’m really glad you got caught up on that mortgage and paid off the balance on the equipment loan, Hawk. The bank was really breathing down our necks, threatening to foreclose and repossess. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting new operating loans in the future now, not with all that cash sitting in your account.” The attorney chuckled. “A hundred thousand dollars is a nice cushion. Where the hell did you get all that money? I didn’t know hunting and flying paid that well.”

Jenny came dangerously close to tears. Hawk had been in the process of signing his name, but as soon as he got the gist of what Jack was telling him, he set his pen aside, slowly and deliberately. He hadn’t even put a mark on the paper. He turned to her and gave her a long speculative look. Anger built slowly on his face. She resisted the urge to look away, meeting his stare directly.

“Flying and hunting don’t pay that well,” he told Jack flatly and deliberately, his chilling blue eyes still on Jenny. “Neither did this last cattle sale.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a derisive grin. “Apparently, I almost had myself a pretty wealthy partner.”

Jenny froze. “Almost?”

“Yeah, almost, honey.” He rose deliberately and picked up his hat, then put it on his head with a yank in the front, never once removing his gaze from her. “I told you not to do what you did. I thought we had an understanding. I’m not going to be partners with someone I can’t trust.”

Jenny met the scorn and anger in his eyes with a mixture of defiance and regret. But as she watched him nod to a bewildered Jack Higgins, then turn to leave, her feelings turned to outright anger. Damn him! She couldn’t believe he was going to do this to her just because he didn’t want her money. It truly defied logic and reason! And yet as she watched him walk out, without so much as a backward glance, she realized he really wasn’t going to form any kind of partnership with her. Her first impulse was to go after him and rage at him, but she recovered her composure and tried to make amends to the stunned attorney, who had now been joined by his bewildered wife.

“I’m sorry about that.” She looked to the champagne and glasses. “I know you’ve been patient and gone to a lot of trouble.”

“What happened?” Jack asked. “What was Hawk upset about? I don’t understand.”

Jenny threw up her hands. “I don’t either, Jack, not really. Except that Hawk didn’t know that I paid those loans off.”

“I thought it was his money.”

“No, it was mine. I just used his coupon books to make paying them easier. That’s why I asked you to go with me— to smooth over any problem the bank might have had with me transacting business on the account. I should have told you— and him.”